Today's Class

In today's class, we wrote our essays for our semester exam, since Mr. Schick will be in Chicago with the Academic Team and will not be able to grade them.  It was hard to do because we only had thirty minutes to write the essays.  Originally we had to write three essays, but because we so limited on time, Mr. Schick only made us write two.  It was still very hard to write the two essays in that amount of time.  A nice thing was, Mr. Schick posted the essay topics in advance, so we had time to study and review them.  The only thing is, I am glad to be done the essay portion of the exam, so now we only have to do the scantron.  I hope Mr. Schick and the Academic Team are able to do well and win while they are gone.

Today's Class

In today's class, we took our big unit test on Rome.  It was not a terribly hard test if you studied.  All of the test was on the Big Powerpoint of Rome.  The test was pretty straightforward and and was on everything Mr. Schick said was going to be on it.  After the test, Mr. Schick went to go grade them because it was on a scantron.  I really hope that I did good on this test.

Today's Class

In today's class, we did not do to much.  We started to go over the Rome power point as a class because it is now going to be Tuesday.  Mr. Schick told us that there will be more notes up tonight. Also, we are going to write our essay portion in class next Wednesday because his Academic team is going to Chicago and he will not be able to grade our essays in time.  So, for our exam we will just have the multiple choice questions.  Mainly today, we focused on the Rome power point and our upcoming test.

Today's Class

In today's class, we finished up Rome presentations.  Three groups went today and did good jobs.  First was Delaney and Alayna, and they did theirs on Roman mosaics.  There's was good and helped us understand Roman mosaics.  They made a very nice mosaic, but the only thing was their power point was very hard to read.  Second was Ariana, she did a good job on her project, which was the pantheon.  She had to do hers on her own because her sister Dimitra was not at school today.  She did a good poster with facts on it about the pantheon and made a good building of the pantheon.  Last, Josh, Adam Berg, and Adam Dobson went and did a good job on Hadrian's wall.  They did a good powerpoint on it, but just read off of it and made a good replica of Hadrian's wall.

Today's Class

In today's class, we continued Rome presentations.  Two groups went today and did good jobs.  First was Kyle, Kelsey, and Jake who did their project on Rome baths.  They did a power point and built a what a Roman bath was.  They did a very good job and gave everyone a good presentation on Roman baths.  The last presentation today was my group.  My group was Ryan, Luke, and I.  We did our project on Roman crucifixion.  I did our paper and research, and Ryan and Luke made a cross and put facts on it.  I thought that we did a good job on our presentation and gave everyone a better understanding on crucifixion.

Today's Class

In today's class, we started Rome presentations.  Three groups went today and did very good jobs.  First was Kacey and Meredith, and they did theirs on food and pottery.  There's was very good and helped us get a better understanding of their lives.  Second was Avery, she did a very good job on Mummy Portraits.  She showed us how rich people would get their faces on their mummy.  Last, Stevie and Hunter went and did a very good job on their aqueduct.  They really helped us get a better of what aqueducts did for the Romans and how they worked.

Today's Class

In today's class, we went over when all groups were presenting.  My group is presenting 3rd on May 19th.  We also saw what other groups were going to be doing.  In class, Mr. Schick gave everyone a chance to work more on our projects.  This really helped because we were able to get more done or finish our project.

Today's Class

In today's class, we took a pop quiz on Rome.  The pop quiz was on the Power Point.  After the quiz, Mr. Schick graded them and showed us our grades.  After that, we worked on our project.  This was a very good class because we were able to get farther in our project on Rome.

Today's Class

Today, we had a very interesting class.  We started to go over more and review our Power Point.  But the interesting thing was, we had students teaching it.  We had students teach the Power Point who thought they could or it was easy.  It definitely was not easy for students to do other than just read the screen.  Our teacher acted as a student and did what students do during the presentation.  So, we had a very fun, yet interesting class today.

Today's Class

In today's class, we continued watching the video on Tiberius from last Wednesday.  This video helped me learn much more about Tiberius and all he tried to do for his people.  Tiberius tried to give Roman people a fair living chance and give back their land.  The only problem he had was Octavius, his childhood friend, vetoed his law for people's vote.  The Senate and Octavius started to the spread rumors about Tiberius wanting to become king, so then he was overpowered and killed.  Tiberius was just thrown into the Tiber River without a proper funeral.

Today's Class

In today's class, we had the chance to work on our projects.  We were allowed to get together in our groups and start on our project.  The only exception to leave the class was if you were going to work on pottery.  So, this class gave us a chance to work on our projects.

Today's Class

In today's class, we kept taking some notes on Rome.  We did not have as many notes to take as the past few classes.

Economic Change, Social Upheaval

• Slaves poured into Italy (50,000 Carthaginians, 150,000 Greek POWs, etc.)
• By the end of the second century BCE there were over a million slaves in Italy
• The big farms became massive estates called latifundia 

Today's Class

Gov't: Ancient Roman/US

• Originally, the US modeled their new government on the model used by the ancient Romans
• Not the exact same
• Both have 3 branches
• Executive
• Legislative
• Judicial
• Both have a legal code

3 Branches (1) - Rome/US

Rome

• Executive
• Two consuls
• One year terms
• Each has veto power
• Controls the military
• Could appoint a dictator in a crisis for a six-month term

US

• Executive
• President (and VP)
• Four year terms
• Can veto proposed laws
• Commander-in-chief

3 Branches (2) - Rome/US

Rome

• Legislative
• Senate - 300 members - aristocrats - members for life
• Assembly - members for life

US

• Legislative
• Senate - 100 senators (two from each state) - six-year terms
• House of Representatives - 435 members - two-year terms

3 Branches (3) - Rome/US

Rome

• Judicial
• Praetors
• Chosen by the Centuriate Assembly
• One-year terms

US

• Judicial
• Supreme Court
• Nine members
• Appointed by the president, confirmed by the Senate
• Lifetime terms

Legal Code- Rome/US

Rome

• Twelve Tables
• Publicly displayed
• Gave rights to plebeians, not just aristocrats
• Only protected free-born made citizens (not women)

US

• Bill of Rights
• First Ten Amendments to the Constitution  

Today's Class

Rule of kings is replaced by rule of two consuls ("gotta be better than one").

• Consuls are elected officials
• Term of office: one year
• Almost always aristocrats (patricians)
• Patricians traced descent from a famous ancestor or pater ("father")
• Duties: dealing justice, making law, commanding the army
• One consul could veto the other (reducing the power of the individual)

• Fifth century BCE - patrician dominance of the government was challenged by the plebs ("people")
• Plebs were 98% of the population
• How did the patricians dominate?
• Plebs had to serve in the army, but could not hold office
• Plebs were threatened with debt slavery
• Plebs had no legal rights

• Plebs were victims of discriminatory decisions in judicial trials
• Rome had no actual laws, just unwritten customs
• Patricians could interpret these to their own advantage

So, plebs refused to serve in the military until...

• Laws were written out (The Law of the Twelve Tables)
• These laws (on tablets) were posted in public (in 450 BCE)
• Tribunes ("tribal leaders") were elected

SPQR- Senatus Populusque Romanum

• Designates any decree or decision made by "the Roman Senate and people"

Res Publica - The People's Affairs

Brand new Republic, ready to run

• Democracy- the people's assembly and the tribunes
• Aristocracy- the Senate, approximately 300 members
• Plus monarchy- the consuls
• Not a tyranny.

Roman Legion

• 5000 soldiers
• The Roman army's elite heavy infantry
• Recruited exclusively from Roman citizens
• Group of eighty is a century
• On horseback is the calvary
• Shield, sword, dagger, and armor and tunic

Punic Wars

• The Punic Wars (264-164 BCE)
• Rome vs. Carthage
• Three Wars

Two Empires Fighting for Control

• First Punic War (264-241 BCE)
• Naval battles for control of the strategically located island of Sicily
• Rome wins this one

The (Carthaginian) Empire Strikes Back

• Second Punic War (218-201 BCE)
• 29-year-old Carthaginian general Hannibal almost does the impossible taking Rome

The Final Punic War

• The Third and Final Punic War (149-146 BCE)
• Rome wanted to finally remove the threat of Carthage
• Scipio, Tiberius Graachus, and others mercilessly attacked the city
• Carthage was burned for 17 days; the city's walls and buildings were destroyed
• When the war ended, the last 50,000 people in the city were sold into slavery
• The rest of Carthage's territories were annexed, and made into the Roman province of Africa

Marcus Portius Cato the Elder was a politician who ended every speech by saying, "Pelud Carthage est," which means "Carthage must be destroyed."  He sure got his wish.

Today's Class

Who Settled Rome?
Etruscans

• Came from the north-central part of the peninsula
• Metal workers, artists, architects
• Two foundation myths: Virgil's Aeneid (where Aeneas escapes from Troy), plus the story of Remus and Romulus

Greeks

• Had many colonies around the Mediterranean Sea
• Romans borrowed ideas from them, such as:
• Religious beliefs
• Alphabet
• Much of their art
• Military techniques and weaponry

First - Latins

• Descendents of Indo-Europeans
• Settled on the banks of the Tiber
• Situated so trading ships - but not war fleets - could navigate as far as Rome, but no further
• A commercial port, but not susceptible to attack
• And... built on seven hills (esp. Palatine)

... They Drained a Swamp ...

• Many streams flowed in the Tiber River
• Was a marshy area called the Forum, between palatine and Capitoline Hills
• Tarquin the Proud's grandfather built the Cloaca Maxima (largest ancient drain), which channeled water into the Tiber

Now Tarquin's Kinda Proud, but He Got a Little Loud

• Lucius Tarquinias Superbus
• The seventh and FINAL king of Rome
• Known as Tarquin the Proud (sometimes referred to as Tarquin the Arrogant)
• A true tyrant, in the old and modern sense of the world